The most visible travel and expense tools in Germany, October 2026

October 2026 · 15 questions asked from Germany in German and English · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 60 answers read

Leader

Circula

47Heralded Score, range 38–60

Where engines disagree most

Pleo

1/4engines put it in their top three

Top three on ChatGPT, not on Google AI Mode, Gemini and Google AI Overviews

Brands

Search is not measured for this board yet, so it ranks on AI answers.

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score All AI Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 Circula DE New entry 47 , range 38–60 47#1
47
  • : score 47 · #1
47% 22% First reading
2 SAP Concur US New entry 38 , range 31–48 38#2
38
  • : score 38 · #2
32% 15% First reading
3 TravelPerk ES New entry 38 , range 33–45 38#3
38
  • : score 38 · #3
35% 12% First reading
4 Navan US New entry 37 , range 30–47 37#4
37
  • : score 37 · #4
32% 12% First reading
5 Pleo DK New entry 36 , range 28–46 36#5
36
  • : score 36 · #5
28% 13% First reading
6 Spendesk FR New entry 32 , range 13–41 32#6
32
  • : score 32 · #6
21% 10% First reading
7 Rydoo BE New entry 32 , range 11–41 32#7
32
  • : score 32 · #7
21% 9% First reading
8 Zoho Expense IN New entry 32 , range 10–41 32#8
32
  • : score 32 · #8
16% 13% First reading
9 Expensify US New entry 30 , range 8–39 30#9
30
  • : score 30 · #9
16% 10% First reading
10 Ramp US New entry 23 , range 7–37 23#10
23
  • : score 23 · #10
16% 5% None First reading

“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. AI gives each brand’s score and rank from the engines’ answers; Search is not measured for this board yet. By engine has one dot per engine (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode), darker the more often it names the brand.

Most cited sources

Rank Source Type Cited in Engines Pages cited Brands its pages mention
1 bundesfinanzministerium.de Regulator 10.0% 1 of 4 14 Not read
2 youtube.com Social 13.3% 2 of 4 7 Not read
3 fuer-gruender.de Media 13.3% 3 of 4 2 5
4 suitapp.de Review site 10.0% 1 of 4 1 13
5 free-now.com Vendor site 8.3% 2 of 4 4 9
6 linkedin.com Social 6.7% 2 of 4 4 Not read
7 omr.com Media 8.3% 2 of 4 4 15
8 taxandbytes.de Consultancy 6.7% 2 of 4 2 4
9 apps365.com Vendor site 5.0% 2 of 4 2 1
10 deloitte.com Consultancy 3.3% 1 of 4 3 Not read

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
best travel and expense software for small businesses English Zoho Expense
business travel booking and expense tracking for finance teams English Navan and SAP Concur, tied
how can a small business track employee travel spending English Expensify
how to reimburse employees for business travel expenses English No brand recommended
centralized travel booking vs employee-paid bookings for small businesses English Booking.com for Business, TravelPerk and TravelPerk, tied

Each engine's top three

Method

Each leaderboard ranks brands on two sides. AI is how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the board's buyer questions. Search is Google's top 10 results for the keywords behind those questions. All combines the two, where Search is measured.

For the AI side, each month Heralded asks every engine the same buyer questions, twice each, and reads every answer. An answer counts 0 for a brand it leaves out, 50 for a brand it names and 100 for a brand it recommends, and the Heralded Score is built from those. A brand named in at least three answers gets a score and a place.

How the leaderboards are measured